Notice of Violation #13 for Rover

Ohio EPA cited Rover Pipeline, LLC again this week for spilling contaminants into a stream: soap wastewater and soil/sediment into a tributary of Irish Creek, Loudon Township, Carroll County. The Notice of Violation comes only three days after the company this week received permission from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to resume drilling construction at certain locations in Ohio.

"Although Rover’s arrogance and blatant disregard for Ohio’s environmental laws is no longer surprising, we will remain vigilant in holding the company accountable," said Ohio EPA Director Craig W. Butler.

For more than four months, Rover had been under federal orders prohibiting the company from continuing horizontal drilling at new Ohio locations due to numerous environmental violations. Among those was the release of more than two million gallons of industrial waste (drilling mud contaminated with diesel fuel) into a high-quality wetland in Tuscarawas County, subsequently dumping that same material into local quarries near sources for public drinking water, as well as other storm water and air pollution violations.

In this latest incident (resulting in Rover’s 13th notice of environmental violations in Ohio this year) the company’s construction activity caused soap wastewater used in boring operations and soil/sediment to discharge to waters of the state, which is a violation of Ohio Revised Code 6111. Approximately 500 feet of waterway was impacted by the spill requiring 6,000 gallons of water to be recovered by vacuum truck. Impacted silt/sedimentation was removed. The release also violated OAC 3745-1-04 rule by the release/deposit of soap wastewater and silt/sediment, adversely affecting aquatic life and discoloration of the water — an illegal discharge without a permit.

Currently, Rover also is in violation of Ohio EPA’s July 7 orders, which among several other directives, required the company to file for a construction storm water general permit. The company has refused to comply with the order or pay an appropriate civil penalty. The Agency has referred the case to the Ohio Attorney General.

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The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1972 to consolidate efforts to protect and improve air quality, water quality and waste management in Ohio. Since then, air pollutants dropped by as much as 90 percent; large rivers meeting standards improved from 21 percent to 89 percent; and hundreds of polluting, open dumps were replaced with engineered landfills and an increased emphasis on waste reduction and recycling.